Memorial plaques with names, dates and other indicia embedded on them are widely used in marking grave sites, tombstones and crypts. Such plaques are usually left outdoors and are intended to be very long lasting, if not permanent. Memorial markers and plaques as a result are designed of very robust materials, such as cast metal and stone that resist weather damage and vandalism. To provide permanence and resistance to damage, the markers or plaques are often constructed in a manner where components are permanently attached together, or where it is extremely difficult to remove components.
For example, in many cases a solid stone marker or head stone is engraved with the memorial indicia. Cast letters or numbers are permanently attached to a stone slab or a cast metal plaque is manufactured with all required lettering cast or engraved in a permanent manner.
The cost and time taken to prepare such memorial markers and plaques are considerable. For example, in the case of an engraved stone slab, due to shipping, manufacturing, and scheduling, the time between ordering and completely installing the received marker may be in the order of six to eight weeks. Due to the skilled labour and cost of shipping and installation, the total cost of preparing and installing the marker is considerable.
Recent trends indicate a customer desire toward simplifying funeral services, and movement in favour of cremation and burial in crypts. This reflects a desire to reduce the cost and complexity of traditional funeral services. Of particular relevance to the present invention are the cost and delay inherent in the labour intensive of preparation of an appropriate grave marker or crypt plaque.
In addition to the relatively high cost, the delay involved in preparing and installing a memorial plaque marker is becoming unacceptable to contemporary purchasers. Since the name and date of birth with date of death are commonly marked on the memorial plaques, for obvious reasons, it is impossible to complete the preparation of markers in advance. It is common practice for married couples or entire families to be buried together in a crypt and in such cases, the memorial plaques or markers may be modified a number of times.
However, if possible, it is preferred to conduct burial services when the site is fully marked, as opposed to an unmarked or partially completed site. The participants in the service perceive such preparation as more respectful and completed markings eliminate any concern that mistakes may occur later in finalizing the site marking.
There is a market demand for relatively lower cost marking of grave sites that involve less time delay and permit changes to be made to markers over multiple graves. Traditionally, purchasers have resisted conformity and prefer a wide choice of ornamental features in memorial markers.
The prior art has introduced several memorial markers with removable or replaceable indicia in response to this demand. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,089 to Sheidow provides a cast memorial marker with removable plates that can be interchanged in order to provide flexibility in inserting names and dates, etc. The removable plates with indicia can be permanently attached when desired on final installation.
Another example is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,178 to Rochester which includes a removable blank plate which is replaced with an engraved plate on the forward face of a grave marker. In the case of Rochester, the plate is attached by embedding in wet concrete, whereas in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,472 to Svensson a sliding tongue and groove system is used to attach an engraved name plate.
The prior art suffers from the disadvantage that uniformity is required in the design of the grave markers, and very little flexibility is provided in the choice of marker shape and additional ornamental features which may be added to include unique aspects. Customers will consider inappropriate any marker which appears to be mass produced and substantially identical to adjacent markers of others.
The prior art provides little design flexibility in use of different materials together, such as stone and castings of metal. In addition, the prior art does not balance well the desire for permanence with the need for periodic repair or maintenance in the event of damage.
The significant disadvantage of the prior art is that the final installation requires relatively high level skills and specialized tools. It is highly desirable however, for cemetaries with relatively unskilled labour and few specialized tools to perform all necessary installation and marking themselves. In this manner, the cost and delay in completing the installation is reduced considerably.
Once persons from outside the cemetary grounds must travel to the cemetary or the markers must be shipped from the cemetary to a manufacturing plant, such operations involve significant delay and cost especially in the case where heavy stone and cast metal components are used. In many cases cemetaries are located outside highly populated areas in relatively isolated park like settings. The logistics of transporting materials or skilled labour between cemetaries involves significant travel for persons and freight costs for materials and equipment.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a relatively low cost marker which can be rapidly modified to include marking indicia without the need for specialized tools or skilled labour apart from those employed by a cemetary.
It is also desirable to provide a marker, which has relatively permanent means to mount the marker to resist damage while at the same time being easily removable if changes or maintenance are required.
It is also highly desirable to provide a marker which allows a significant degree of modification and preferably combines the use of traditionally used materials such as stone and cast metal to respond to the market demand for unique or individual combinations of ornamental features.